Explosive



" l atented Apr. 25, 1933 N'EMOURS & COMPANY, WARE No Drawing.

This invention relates to stabilized explosives containing nitric esters and, more particularly, to dynamites containing nitroglycerin as'the principal explosive.

It is the practice in the manufacture of nitroglycerin explosives, or dynamites, to

- drolysis- It has long been recognized that nitroglycerin tends to hydrolyze more or less in the presence of acids, alkalis or soluble salts. This hydrolysis tends to form small amounts of acidity,'which has a very deleterious effect on the further behavior of the nitroglycerin. In order to neutralize the effects of any small amounts of acid formed, it has been customary to incorporate, with the other ingredients of dynamite, a small percentage of a substance-that can combine with the acid. Such acid-neutralizing materials have been commonly termed antacids. Heretofore, 1 materials for this purpose have included such compounds as calcium carbonate, zinc oxide and magnesium carbonate.

The present invention has as an object the production of an explosive having improved stability. A further object of my invention is an explosive comprising {a new composition of materials not heretofore proposed for this urpose.

Ot or objects and advantages of the in-' vention will be apparent at it is better understood by reference to the followin specification in which itspreferred embo' iments are described.

It has been found that the incorporation of magnesium oxide as an antacid in ex plosive compositions of the type described herein results in unusual and more beneficial effects than compositions heretofore used. This materialmay be used either in the form of a precipitated magnesium oxide STATES .WALTER G. HOLMES, 0F WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO E. I. DU HDN'I. DE

0]? WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELA- EXPLOSIVE Application filed August 31, 1929. Serial No. 389,867.

or as calcined magnesite, which is the techmeal product, and which consists of magnesium oxide.

The use of magnesium oxide in place of materials previously used as antacids is advantageous in all nitroglycerin explosives. However, there are certain types of explosives in which its incorporation is par-' ticularly desirable, because of'its efi'ect in improving the stability and keeping r0 7 ert es of the explosives. One type of exglosive in which the use of magnesium oxide as antacid causes great improvement is that n whlch mtrated aliphatic compounds, containing more nitrate groups in their formulas than nitroglycerin, are substituted for a part of the nitroglycerin such nitrated products being either dissolved in, or mixed with, the nitroglycerin. Nitrated cane sugar or other nitrated sugar, is an exam 1e of such a highly nitrated com ound.

bility of the explosiv Another kind of explosive in which the use of magnesium oxide as an antacid is of great value isthat increasingly important class known as ammonia gelatins, in which a part of the strength of the gelatinized explosive is obtained by the replacement of a portion of the nitroglycerin, or other liquid explosive by ammonium nitrate. Very great economic advantages come from the use of such explosives. While ammonia gelatins have given considerable satisfac tion in use, some diificulties have been encountered from the point of view of stae nitration products of the big er alcohols are bility, the instability showing a ar by a tendency to leakiness in the gelatin.

Nitroglycerin The use of magnesium oxidevin place of antacids previously used brings a great improvement to ammonia gelatins in this respect.

One of the commonly used methods of determining the relative stability of explosives is to measure the volume of gas evolution under standard temperature conditions, the gas formed being due'to decomposition reactions. Using such a method, I have determined the amount of gas evolved from definite weights of a 40% low freeing gelatin dynamite when stored at a temperature of 40 C. for a period of 13 days. With the compositions of the dynamites uniform, except that different antacids were used, in amounts of 2% each, the following volumes of gas were obtained per 100 grams of explosive:

Zinc oxide i 5.0 cc. Calcium carbonate 6.7 cc. Magnesium carbonate 13.0 cc.

Magnesium oxide a fraction bf 1.0 cc.-

Per cent Nitroglycerin 28 Nitrated cane sugar 6 Nitrocellulose '1 Sodium nitrate 50 Wood pulp 7 Starch"; 4 V Sulphur 2 Magnesium oxide 2 An ammonia gelatin likewise may have the following composition Per cent Nitrocellulose Ammonium nitrate 10, 0 Sodium nitrate 51. 0 Wood pulp 8. 0 Starch 2. 4 Sulphur t 2. 0 Magnesium oxide 2. 0

glycerin as the liquid explosive ingredient. 8.

0 phatic compound nesium oxide.

I may, however, if desirable, replace the nitroglycerin wholly or in part by a. nitroglycol, 'for example, ethylene glycol dinitrate, or I may substitute for a portion of oxide may be used with beneficial e the properties of the explos1ve,'I prefer to use amounts not greater than 5% of the explosive by weight, since greater percenta s of this ingredient have an undesirable e ect in decreasing the strength of the explosive. I prefer also to use an amount of magnesium oxide not less than 0.1%, since smaller amounts do not give as great an improvement to the explosive as desired. 1 have found 2% of magnesium oxide to be a satisfactory amount for use.

While I have described my invention above in detail, Iwish it to be understood that 'inan changes may be made therein, without eparting from the spirit of the invention and that I do not intend to be limited except as indicated'in the appended claims.

I claim: J

L'An explosive composition comprising a liquid explosive, nitrocellulose and magnesium 0x1 k 2. An explosive com osi tion comprising nitrpglycerin, nitrocellu ose, and magnesium, 0x1 e.

no I

3. An explosive composition comprising a liquid explosive contammg a nitrated alihaving more nitrate groups than nitroglycerin, and magnesium ()I Xide.

4. An explosive composition comprising a 7 liquid explosive containing a nitrated sugar,

and magnesium oxide.

5. An explosive composition com nitroglycerin, a nitrated sugar, an mag- 6, explosive composition comprising nitroglycerin, a nitrated sugar, nitrocellulose,-a.nd ma esium qfiide. I 7 exposive co position comprising nitroglycerin," 'a nitrated sugar, nitrocellulose, one or more oxygen-carrying compounds, absorbent materials for the liquid explosive, and magnesium oxide. 2

n. i explosive composition comprising nitroglycerin, a nitrated sugar, nitrocellulose, one or more oxygen-carrying compounds, absorbent materials for the liquid explosive, and an amount of magnesium oxide between 0.1 and 5.0%.

9. An explosive composition comprising a liquid explosive, nitrocellulose, ammonium nitrate, and magnesium oxide.

10. An explosive composition comprising nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, ammonium nitrate, and magnesium oxide.

11. An explosive composition comprising nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, ammonium n1- .trate, an additional oxygen-carrying compound, absorbent material for the liquid explosive, and magnesium oxide.

12. An explosive composition comprising nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, ammonium nitrate, an additional oxygen-carrying compound, absorbent material for the liquid explosive, and an amount of magnesium oxide between 0.1 and-5.0%.

In testimony whereof, I afiix'my s1gnature.

WALTER o. HOLMES. 

